JetBlue Posts Q2 Profit as JetForward and Demand Take Flight

 JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ: JBLU) today reported its financial results for the second quarter of 2025 alongside an update on JetForward, the company’s multi-year transformation plan.

“We ended the first half of 2025 with meaningful progress on JetForward,” said Joanna Geraghty, JetBlue’s chief executive officer. “Operational investments drove significant reliability improvements, with on-time performance up three points year-over-year. Customer satisfaction also increased considerably over the first half of this year, and JetBlue’s Net Promoter Score rose by double digits.” Geraghty continued, “despite facing an uncertain economic backdrop, we met or exceeded our financial targets, delivering a modest operating profit for the quarter. The momentum we have built since launching our multi-year strategy last summer reinforces our conviction that JetForward is the right plan to return JetBlue to sustained profitability.”

“Demand for air travel improved as the quarter progressed, resulting in significant strength for bookings within 14-days of travel, as well as for peak travel periods,” said Marty St. George, JetBlue’s president. “We are encouraged to see that momentum carry into July and, we are optimistic that demand will continue to improve through the end of the year.”

Blue Sky Collaboration with United Airlines to Increase Customer Choice and Benefits

“In May, we marked another significant milestone for JetForward, introducing Blue Sky, a collaboration with United that is designed to deliver clear benefits to customers,” said St. George. “We believe Blue Sky will enable each airline to offer its customers access to hundreds of new flights and destinations through a traditional interline agreement, with the opportunity to earn and redeem loyalty points and miles across each other’s networks. United has agreed to transition its distribution of non-flight ancillaries such as hotels, rental cars, and more to our travel products subsidiary Paisly – turbocharging Paisly’s high-margin growth.

“Blue Sky is expected to contribute $50 million more in incremental EBIT⁽¹⁾ than we had initially planned for a partnership – accelerating JetForward. We are recalibrating the total program range and now anticipate $850 to $950 million in EBIT benefit by the end of 2027, up from $800 to $900 million previously.”

JetForward Continues to Deliver Results

JetBlue delivered $90 million incremental EBIT during the first half of 2025 as part of its JetForward strategy, bringing cumulative gains since inception to $180 million. Performance across all four priority moves continues to drive results:

• Reliable & Caring Service: $15 million to-date
  • For the first half of 2025, on-time performance and completion factor were up 3 points and 0.5 points, respectively, while Net Promoter Score was up double digits – building on improvements from 2024.
• Best East Coast Leisure Network: $15 million to-date
  • Efforts to optimize Transatlantic & Mint ^® flying were especially productive, with significant margin improvement year-over-year.
  • New routes out of secondary cities in the Northeast have performed well and, early into their launch, have some of the highest TrueBlue ^® attachment rates per flight.
• Products & Perks Customers Value: $35 million in 1H25, $125 million cumulatively
  • JetBlue was recognized as the top airline for first/business class customer satisfaction according to J.D. Power according to J.D. Power. ⁽²⁾
  • Blue Sky is designed to accelerate JetForward and drives substantial loyalty and Paisly engagement, anticipated to begin delivering value as early as the fourth quarter 2025.
  • Preferred seating continues to outpace expectations and recent initiatives, such as our enhanced EvenMore ^® offering, are performing well.
  • Lounges remain on track with John F. Kennedy International Airport slated for the fourth quarter of 2025 and Boston Logan in 2026.
  • JetBlue is on track to launch domestic first class in 2026.
• A Secure Financial Future: $25 million to-date
  • JetBlue continued to advance over 100 cost initiatives. In 2025, initiatives are focused on AI and data science adoption, customer self-service, disruption management, and fuel consumption reduction.

Second Quarter 2025 Financial Results

• Net loss for the second quarter of 2025 under U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“GAAP”) of $74 million or $(0.21) per share. Non-GAAP adjusted net loss for the second quarter of 2025 of $58 million ⁽³⁾ or $(0.16) ⁽³⁾ per share.
• Second quarter 2025 system capacity decreased by 1.5% year-over-year.
• Operating revenue of $2.4 billion for the second quarter of 2025, a decrease of 3.0% year-over-year.
• Operating expense of $2.4 billion for the second quarter of 2025, a decrease of 0.9% year-over-year.
• Operating expense, excluding special items, for the second quarter of 2025 was $2.3 billion, a 1.9% ⁽³⁾ decrease year-over-year.
• Operating expense per available seat mile (“CASM”) for the second quarter of 2025 increased 0.6% year-over-year.
• Operating expense per available seat mile, excluding fuel, other non-airline operating expenses, and special items (“CASM ex-Fuel”) ⁽³⁾ for the second quarter of 2025 increased 6.0% year-over-year.
• Operating margin of 0.3% for the second quarter of 2025.
• Adjusted operating margin ⁽³⁾ of 1.3% for the second quarter of 2025.
• Average fuel price in the second quarter of 2025 of $2.40 per gallon.

Second Quarter 2025 Key Highlights

• Strong operational execution drove a double digit increase in Net Promoter Score over the quarter.
• Second quarter year-over-year unit revenue decreased by 1.5%, exceeding the better end of our guidance range.
• Second quarter year-over-year CASM ex-Fuel ⁽³⁾ increased by 6.0%, beating the better end of our guidance range. Cost savings from our JetForward initiatives and strong operational execution drove the 7th consecutive quarter of cost out-performance.
• Sold assets from our JetBlue Technology Ventures subsidiary to SKY Leasing – a unique transaction that allows us to retain the up-side of the investment portfolio and other benefits, including continued access to cutting-edge companies, with greatly reduced costs.
• Executed definitive agreements to sell our remaining Embraer E190 fleet as well as our two upcoming Airbus A321neo XLR deliveries, a meaningful step in our fleet modernization and simplification.
• Unveiled unique marketing promotions.
• Welcomed additional loyalty partners including Japan Airlines.

Outlook

“We are optimistic that the demand environment is turning a corner,” said St. George. “Over the first few weeks of July, we have seen the close-in strength from the second quarter continue, and we are encouraged by the sustained momentum.”

Ursula Hurley, chief financial officer, added, “As the demand environment improves, we remain laser-focused on cost execution. For the full year, we are re-instating our initial unit cost guidance from the onset of the year, despite capacity one and a half points lower than initial guidance, illustrating the benefits of our strong operation and cost reduction programs.”

Improved AOG Forecast Enables Return to Long-Term Capacity Growth, Supporting Path Back to Profitability

Hurley provided an update on JetBlue’s evolving aircraft on the ground (“AOG”) forecast, which is improving due to the extension of required maintenance intervals from better-than-expected engine durability performance and aggressive self-help initiatives to source spare engines.

“I’m pleased to announce that the forecast for AOGs, as a result of Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbofan challenges, has improved, and we now expect to average fewer than 10 aircraft on the ground this year, down from mid-to-high teens. We believe that 2025 now represents the peak, with the number set to reduce as we progress into 2026 and fully resolve by the end of 2027.

“We believe the improving AOG profile should enable us to return to sustainable and capital-efficient capacity growth through the end of the decade with our current order book. This allows us to pursue a more favorable unit-cost growth trajectory, supporting our path to restoring profitability.”

Earnings Call Details

JetBlue will hold a conference call to discuss its quarterly earnings today, July 29, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time. A live broadcast of the conference call will also be available via the internet at http://investor.jetblue.com. The webcast replay and presentation materials will be archived on the company’s website for at least 30 days.

For further details, see the second quarter 2025 Earnings Presentation available via the internet at http://investor.jetblue.com.